Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Florida Governor Rick Scott has killed funding for a controversial
“violence prevention program” in Florida which caused a public backlash after
the Sheriff’s office in Palm Beach County encouraged people to report on their
neighbors for anti-government rhetoric.

As we reported earlier this month, the program would have
created a 24 hour hotline via which citizens could report “suspicious behavior,”
prompting “a knock on the door and a referral to services” by specially trained
deputies and mental health caseworkers.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Democrat, stoked anger
amongst conservatives when he suggested the program would be used to target
political free speech deemed potentially violent by authorities.

“We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he
hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him,” Bradshaw said.
“What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything
OK?’”

Following a public backlash from critics who denounced the program as
a disturbing throwback to how political dissidents were
imprisoned in Soviet mental hospitals for criticizing the state, Governor Rick
Scott announced that the campaign would not receive taxpayer funds and the
Sheriff’s office has said that it is now reconsidering the plan.

“Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $1 million from the state budget that was
part of funding for the county’s “Violence Prevention Program,” designed to
encourage communities to report suspicious behavior. Now the Palm Beach County
Sheriff’s Office says it will “re-evaluate the feasibility of going forward,” reports the Florida Sun-Sentinel.

However, Scott’s reason for vetoing funding was because the whole
state would have been paying for a local program, and apparently had little to
do with public rancor over the proposal. Scott called the program a
“very-well-intended project.”

Although the Sheriff’s office had previously indicated it would go
ahead with the scheme even without state funding, the project now appears to be
on the verge of being mothballed.

“The sheriff appreciates the fact that the Legislature saw fit to
fund the program and the governor considered the program and its value before
making the tough budget decision,” a spokeswoman said in a statement. “Given the
lack for funding, the Sheriff’s Office will re-evaluate the feasibility of going
forward, and continue with existing programs to combat violence in the
community.”

Critics like former Soviet Union resident Dmitry Levin said the
project bore hallmarks of belonging under a tyrannical regime, “It’s a specific
telephone line to report your neighbor who doesn’t like the government,” he
remarked. “When I read that, my jaw dropped. That’s KGB in its finest form. The
next step would be, what, bonuses for reporting?”

However, as we have highlighted, Americans are already being
targeted for “psychiatric evaluations” as a result of their political
opinions.

In addition, authorities are greasing the skids for wider gun
confiscation by expanding the definition under which a person can be
declared “mentally ill,” to the point where harsh anti-government rhetoric is
now being treated as a potential precursor to terrorism.